UK - Expanding production company Event Concept will move to warehouses and offices totaling over 30,000sq.ft. The new location is a stone's throw from its existing establishment in Bermondsey, South London. Following refurbishment, the business will move to the new premises in January 2008.

In 13 years, the company has evolved from an event lighting service to a fully integrated design and technical production company. As well as widening the portfolio of production services to include staging, sound and A/V, the company has also continued to grow the lighting side of the business.

Developing new services and extending the production team has meant Event Concept has had to consistently invest in equipment, looking to the latest technologies. As a result of these investments the business is also servicing an increasing demand for dry hire.

Head of company operations Roger De

Italy - Outline Butterfly, in the experienced hands of Britannia Row Productions, is ready for the only Italian date on Amy Winehouse's European tour, due to be staged at Milan's Alcatraz on Friday 26 October 2007.

The rig will comprise 36 CDH 483 Hi-Packs and 16 Subtech 218 SP subs, all powered by Outline T9 power amplifiers bought by the London rental company, thanks to which - they stress - the line arrays manufactured in Brescia has reached "new heights". The system engineer for the Milan event and the entire tour is Italian Davide Lombardi, who's been on the Britannia Row team for some time.

This is the artist's second tour with Britannia Row's Butterfly; the previous (UK) one was held in January and its sound quality met with unanimous acclaim from the top UK PA men, FOH and system engineers, says Outline.

(Jim Evans)

USA - They're mixing more than drinks these days at 32 Degrees, a stylish European-style bottle-service lounge in The Quarter shopping-entertainment complex at the Tropicana Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City. Since undergoing a renovation in Summer 2007, the popular club can mix and change the colours of its lighting at the touch of a button to modify its atmosphere, thanks to new colour-mixing LEDs from Elation Professional.

32 Degrees co-owner Barry Gutin wanted to stay a jump ahead of the city's fierce competition, so he commissioned Scott Kemly of Powerhouse Sound (Cherry Hill, New Jersey) to give the lounge a lighting makeover.

Having done the original installation, Kemly had ideas on not only how to update the room, but how to do so with minimal structural modification and expense. Previously, there had been a huge sphere in the centre of the ceiling, lit by purple neon. S

India - Bangalore-based V-Dosc Partner J Davis Prosound & Lighting provided a V-DOSC system on the occasion of the Mysore Utsava Festival which took place at the end of July.

This unique cultural event featured over 300 performances from artists such as Kunal Ganjawalla, Shreya Goswal, Shaan to Udit Naraya, just to name a few. Each day saw a crowd averaging 10,000 spectators with an audience culminating at 15 000 on the closing day of the festival. The sound system consisted of 10 V-DOSC per side and eight ARCS.

The National newspaper The Hindu reported: "Both sound and lighting systems were top notch and they brought a tremendous contribution to the general atmosphere of the festival and definitely enhanced the listening pleasure of the audience."

(Jim Evans)

Norway - Clear-Com has been chosen to supply a fully digital Eclipse Omega matrix intercom system with FreeSpeak 50 for use throughout Norway's newest and most prestigious National Opera House, Nytt Operahus, in Oslo. Eclipse Omega and FreeSpeak50 digital wireless beltpacks will provide the communication backbone for the 38,500sq.m facility and its large production and sound crew.

The Opera House is the largest cultural building to be constructed in Norway and an important symbol to the nation. The building houses 1100 rooms as well as a 1,350-seat performance auditorium and a small 400-seat auditorium. The Opera House will employ over 600 people, including production and sound crew who will be utilising Clear-Com's FreeSpeak wireless beltpack for point-to-point communication.

The Clear-Com system chosen by the Nytt Operahus includes a 64-port Eclipse Omega Digital Matrix cont

Portugal - G-LEC is aiming to increase its market share in Portugal, with the formation of a joint venture with Leocádia Maria Baioa da Silva, of Fx Road Lights, its existing Portuguese partner.

Fx Road Lights has been handling G-LEC products and technology for four years, during which time the company has been involved in many big events and projects, including custom signage for Casino Lisboa, which opened last year. Based in Lisbon, the joint venture, G-LEC Portugal LDA, will strengthen G-LEC's in the Iberian Peninsula marke, says the company.

Lars Wolf, managing director of G-LEC Europe comments, "Setting up the joint venture makes it possible for us to provide more support to Fx Road Lights and increases our options in the area. We have worked with Leocádia Maria Baioa da Silva for many years and now look forward to even more success in Portugal."

(Jim Evans

UK - Cooper Parry, have originated and led a £12 million buy-out of Datapath Limited. Cooper Parry's Corporate Finance team advised the shareholders throughout the transaction which saw venture capitalists Foresight invest £3 million, with NatWest providing debt through their Structured Debt Solutions team.

Datapath, which is based in Derby, supplies graphics cards and other products used mainly to control large screen videowall displays. More than 50% of all videowalls installed worldwide use Datapath equipment. With revenues close to £10 million and growing at 30% plus per annum, the company looks well-positioned to build on its market leading position.

Steve De'Ath, director of Datapath, commented: "This investment underlines the company's market leading position. It also gives us a platform to attract talented individuals and strengthen the managemen

UK - Allen & Heath's digital and analogue mixers were employed to manage FOH and monitor sound reinforcement at a new UK festival, which included performances from Echo & The Bunnymen, From The Jam, Badly Drawn Boy and The Bluetones.

Organised by promoters, the Gum & Glue Co, Falmouth Bay Events Square Live was held in the Cornish port over the August bank holiday weekend, providing two evenings of diverse musical entertainment.

The Exeter branch of Sound2Light Productions was chosen to provide all the sound, lighting and staging equipment, with support from Cornwall-based Allen & Heath. The new iLive digital system - comprisingan iDR10 stage rack and iLive-144 control surface - was selected for FOH, with a 32-channel GL2800M dedicated analogue monitor console.

Reflecting on their first event with iLive, Sound2Light director, Richard Jordan, commented, "Initially I was

UK - Helen & Douglas House held their most successful ever fundraising event on Saturday 15 September whilst commemorating their 25th anniversary, over £155,000 was raised on the night with Stage Electrics supplying a full sound system, AV equipment and technical crew.

Based on a circus theme, the ball was held in a stunning big top tent with a helter skelter built right into the twinkling roof. Magicians, 'birds of paradise', juggling stilt walkers, a carousel and the Honda Racing F1 Team simulator car added to the fun, while celebrity guests including Trinny Woodall, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, Alex James (Blur), Nick Mason (Pink Floyd), Richard Hammond and James May added the glamour.

The complete sound system for the event supplied by Stage Electrics included the PA in the Big Top utilising Function1 and L-Acoustics equipment, background sound reinforcement in the bar a

Austria - Le Mark Group, as UK distributor for the Tuchler Show Floor range, continues to expand its product development partnership. High Gloss 'Color X' roll out vinyl floor continues to find new clients and markets in both the UK and Europe, says the company.

ColorX was selected to cover a floating pontoon catwalk in Vienna's Amalienbad art deco swimming hall. The event was on behalf of the Foundation for Breast Health which presented a 'Pink Ribbon Night'. Every possible area of the Amalienbad was used for drama, music, dance and swimming performances. Fashion house Popp & Kretschmar used top international models to present exclusive designs from renowned Munich designer Ella Singh during a 15 minute fashion show.

"ColorX vinyl flooring is proving to be a fantastic new addition to our established range of television flooring," said Le Mark's managing director Stu

UK - The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, announced yesterday that he is working with London's theatres to reduce their carbon emissions. Speaking at Somerset House, where he helped launch the new energy efficient lighting scheme at the National Theatre, the Mayor announced a partnership across the London theatre sector with a shared goal of making London's theatres more energy efficient.

The organisations involved include the Arts Council London, the Theatres Trust, the Independent Theatre Council, Equity and a number of key players from the industry who have all agreed to work with the Mayor to produce a Climate Change Action Plan for London Theatre.

Climate change is a key priority for the Mayor and this announcement builds on his Climate Change Action Plan launched in February this year. The Plan states that London can achieve the 60% reduction in carbon emissions that th

UK - Lighting designer Emma Westerberg has just finished off her year long worldwide tour with Damien Rice and her ETC Congo jr, saying she remains delighted with the control system. She bought the Congo jr a year ago, and,she says, it's behaved flawlessly ever since.

Speaking at London's Wembley Arena after she had finished focussing the lights, Westerberg explained: "I got the desk in January, and within the hour, I had everything programmed in and was up and running. The same was true when Damien was playing at festivals over the summer - because I had my own desk, we could get going so quickly."

In addition to nine 19º and eight 36º Source Four profile spotlights, the Arena rig included battens, floodlights, snow machines, foggers and some 40MAC moving lights.

(Jim Evans)

UK - XL Video UK is supplying Maximo Park's lighting and visuals designer Stevie Marr with Barco MiTrix screen and Catalyst digital media server for the band's current UK and European tour, marking stage three of a progressive video/lighting design process which commenced at the start of 2006.

For Marr, an enthusiastic exponent of video and lighting 'convergence', the MiTrix added a new edge and depth to the show as well as providing surfaces for his custom created video clips. These were all sorted on and played back through two layers of the Catalyst.

The account was handled for XL by Jo Beirne and Phil Mercer who comment, "Stevie always comes up with new and refreshing ideas, and it's been great to see Maximo Park's video design evolve. He knows what he wants and is great to work with on all levels."

The MiTrix are arranged in seven rectangular columns of variou

Finland - High End Systems has announced a new partner agreement with Soundata Oy in Helsinki to supply HES products to Finland's entertainment and television markets. Soundata is active in a variety of fields including lighting, AV contracting, live sound and studio technology.

Juhani Vitikka, Soundata CEO and partner for Soundata says, "We are excited about representing High End Systems products in Finland, as the country is known for a unique variety of entertainment - perfect for High End's unique products."

Soundata showed off the new product line at Audiovisual 2007 in Helsinki. The international trade fair is the most important professional event of the year in the Nordic region for professionals, designers and decision-makers in the audiovisual and corporate event markets. Soundata's booth demonstrated Road Hog and Wholehog 3, as well as Showgun and DL.2.

M

UK - Blitz has recently completed internal investment with a value of £100k following the purchase of additional High Definition (HD) broadcast graphics systems for its already impressive rental fleet.

Blitz has invested in one of the world's most advanced graphics systems Chyron HyperX with Lyric PRO. The HyperX supports one or two independent HD/SD-switchable channels and simultaneous HD animations on two channels for "truly stunning graphics play out". Blitz has also added the Pixel Power Clarity 5000. It is a multi-format, multi-channel hybrid graphics system which includes SD and HD character generation with embedded still store, video clips, 2D DVE, real-time 3D and audio capability.

The systems have already been used in many high profile events, including, the Rugby World Cup and will be used at the first NBA (US National Basket Association) basketball g

UK - Tyco Traffic & Transportation (Tyco T&T), part of Tyco Fire & Integrated is building on its success in audio visual systems for local government with the design and installation of a new generation AV system to enhance communications during meetings held by Wycombe District Council.

The integrated system provided by Tyco T&T includes new large screen displays, projection equipment and desktop displays. The entire system is linked using the latest Cat 6 network cabling which is designed to minimise the amount of cabling and help make the system easy to expand and future-proof.

The system includes a total of 11 screens including two large screen projectors and pull-down screens at each side of the large general chamber. The large screen projectors can show two different AV presentations simultaneously.

Tyco T&T have also provided two large 42" LCD panels in the publi

UK - HSL supplied Starsailor's LD Chris Megginson with a set of specials for their recent Fairtrade 'teaser' UK tour. The band - long term Fairtrade supporters - played 10 locations which are currently working towards achieving Fair-trade Town status as part of an ongoing consciousness raising exercise for the cause.

Being a charity tour, budget was tight, but naturally Megginson wanted to provide as good a light show as possible, and approached HSL's Mike Oates to see what they could offer in terms of a package.

He was looking for the most versatile and interesting combination of lighting fixtures that could be fitted into some very tight spaces. "HSL came up with blindingly good deal" states Megginson, who chose four of the new i-Pix BB Washlight LED fixtures, two strobes, a fogger and a WholeHog II console as his 'tour essentials' which would be combined with hous

UK - PRG Europe has been busy at London's O2, with almost every show since theArena opened being supplied by them. For Prince's 21-date residency, part of his Earth Tour at the arena, as well as over 100 MAC 2000 luminaires, the rig included Atomic strobes, ColorBlaze 72s and B52 Syncrolites.

The most interesting part of the rig, however, were the 'Prince'O'graphs' - 28 custom manufactured PRG pantographs, each with a MAC 2000 on the end, which could be lowered and raised at varying speeds creating endless different looks. The control of the pantographs was via a Kinesys Elevationhoist control system, programmed by Stuart Hale.

Lighting designer and director Garry 'Sport' Waldie explains: "Prince didn't want any overhead lighting, which made things interesting for us - a lot was pushed to the outside and hidden behind the PA and video. He likes a lot of different l

USA - : Symetrix has named Sanecore Audio Co. Ltd., Shenzhen, China as their 2007 international distributor of the year. Sanecore is recognised as one of leading distributors of both consumer and professional audio products in the Asian marketplace.

Commented Paul Roberts, director of sales for Symetrix: "Over the past twelve months Sanecore. has shown a tremendous dedication to the Symetrix brand and their growth in sales is indicative of this. Mr. Jun Zhu and his staff have been exemplary in their adoption of Symetrix technology and its implementation into the Chinese installed sound market."

(Jim Evans)

Italy - The Vatican decided to invest in a new conference system for the prestigious Sala del Sinodo (Synod Hall). The system chosen was a DCN Next Generation consisting of interpretation, camera control, PC control and 364 positions with flush-mount units and nine positions table top DCN Concentus.

The flush-mount units offer the same functionality and performance as the table top DCN Concentus systems while enabling tailor-made fixed installations to be built into tables and arm rests. The flush-mount units consist of a microphone, loudspeaker and microphone activation button, simply combined in a strip and finished with matching end-caps.

(Jim Evans)

UK / USA - Pulsar Light of Cambridge has signed an exclusive distribution agreement for the USA with Group One of Farmingdale, New York.

Paul Mardon, Pulsar Managing Director commented: "We are extremely pleased to enter into this new arrangement with our long time friends at Group One. It is sure to be a highly successful venture."

Jack Kelly, Group One pPresident added: "This exciting move will allow Group One to focus our skills in the rapid growth of Pulsar's presence and support package here in the USA."

Andy Graves, Pulsar's head of sales and marketing said: "Pulsar manufactures an extremely wide range of products that are ideal for the USA markets. In particular our LED ChromaRange provides a huge opportunity for growth."

The agreement also makes way for Pulsar's Jerry Colmenero to take on the role of US sales manager for Pulsar product

USA - Renkus-Heinz was forced to evacuate its factory in Foothill Ranch, California, as the wildfires that have devastated large areas of California in the past few days came within 250 yards of the 50,000sq.ft facility. All employees left the building safely and structural damage was averted by a combination of the dedication of firefighting teams and a sudden change in direction of the wind. The factory has since reopened.

A rapid decision was made by the company to evacuate to protect employees and vital documents as the Orange County Fire Department fought to contain the inferno that has already left one dead, scores injured and over 1,000 properties destroyed. US President George Bush has declared a state of emergency in California.

Renkus-Heinz VP of Operations Rik Kirby said that although the atmosphere had become smoky in the early morning there had not been an undue s

UK - Light Relief Day, held earlier this year to raise funds for the charity Light Relief, proved to be a great success, raising more than £5000, thanks to donations of a day's royalties from numerous lighting designers.

Now set to become an annual event, the first Light Relief Day took place on 24 April 2007, when lighting designers were asked to donate a day's royalties from their current shows. Organised by lighting designer Rick Fisher, the day is in honour of the late Tony Gottelier, who played such a big part in setting up the charity.

Light Relief exists to help lighting designers and technicians during times of hardship and Chris Luscombe was a recent beneficiary. He says: "Working on Starlight Express in Edinburgh, I dislocated my ankle walking down some steps and faced the prospect of being unable to work for several months. However, the trustees at

UK - Manchester-based DBN Lighting is one of the first UK hire companies to stock the new Chroma-Q Color Split multi-purpose LED fixture.

DBN was already a keen user of Chroma-Q's Color Block modular LED fixture, which has proven ideal for lighting its diverse range of client events and is still providing a good return on investment three yearslater, says the company.

DBN lighting director Stephen Page commented: "The Color Split produces the closest light output to that of an asymmetric cyc flood, of any LED product we've seen so far and offers significantly more even colour transmission in this application than conventional LED products.

"Its modular nature makes it flexible enough to be used in a huge variety of applications and, as large stockholders of Color Blocks, we are confident in the consistency and reliability of the product and in thesupport from A.C.

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